Vacuum vapor deposition apparatus and method, and vapor deposited article formed therewith

ABSTRACT

When the ratio of a guest material to a host material is extremely small, it is difficult to maintain, with good accuracy, the ratio of the guest material to be vapor-deposited on the work surface and the distribution state of the guest material. The vacuum vapor deposition apparatus and method includes providing a shielding member, positioned between a first vapor deposition source and a substrate to be coated so that the vapor deposition amount of the guest material on the substrate surface is significantly less than the vapor deposition amount of the host material. A shielding member drive mechanism rotates the shielding member about a first axis while rotating the shielding member about a second axis, which is spaced from and parallel to the first axis.

BACKGROUND

In a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus, a vapor deposition sourceaccommodating a vapor deposition material and a work are disposed facingeach other within a vacuum chamber, the vapor deposition source isheated after the vacuum chamber has been evacuated, the vapor depositionmaterial is melted, and the vapor deposition material gasified byevaporation or sublimation is deposited on the work surface. A vapordeposition layer formed on the work surface is suitable for producing,e.g., functional layers of organic electroluminescence elements or thelike. In particular, when a host material, which is a first main vapordeposition material, is doped with a guest material, which is a secondvapor deposition material, used in a micro amount, a co-depositionmethod is generally employed in which the host material and guestmaterials are simultaneously vapor deposited within the same vacuumchamber. A specific co-deposition method is described in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-open No. 2003-193217 (hereafter the Reference).

The Reference describes that when the ratio of the guest material to thehost material in the vapor deposited layer is set to about 1/100, thevapor deposited layer with the target ratio can be obtained by settingthe vapor deposition rate of the guest material on the work surface to1/100 the vapor deposition rate of the host material. When the ratio ofthe guest material to the host material in the vapor deposited layerformed on the work is small, for example about 1/100, by disposing afilm thickness monitor for the guest material closer to the vapordeposition source thereof than the film thickness monitor of the hostmaterial, it is possible to increase the apparent vapor deposition rateof the guest material and facilitate the monitoring of the vapordeposition rate of the guest material. Where the ratio of the guestmaterial to the host material is very small, however, for example 1/1000or less, even if the film thickness monitor for the guest material isdisposed close to the vapor deposition source thereof, because theco-deposition treatment is realized in the vicinity of the detectionlimit of the monitor (0.001 Å per second), the ratio of the guestmaterial or the distribution of the guest material to the host materialis difficult to maintain with good accuracy.

In the configuration described in the Reference, a substrate (work) forvapor deposition is also rotated in addition to a shielding plate withan opening in the form of a hole or a mesh, to thereby improve thedistribution evenness of the guest material formed as a film on thesubstrate surface. The two drive sources, however, have to beaccommodated within the vacuum chamber of the vacuum vapor depositionapparatus, making the mechanism within the vacuum chamber complex. Inparticular, it is highly undesirable for the work, on which a vapordeposition layer is to be formed, to be driven because the impuritiesgenerated from the driving mechanism in this process can adhere to thework surface.

A method different from the technology disclosed in the Reference hasalso been considered. With this method, the vapor deposition rate of thehost material is intentionally increased by raising the heatingtemperature of the vapor deposition source containing the host materialand the vapor deposition rate of the guest material is maintained at aminimum controllable level by lowering the heating temperature of thevapor deposition source containing the guest material to a minimumallowable limit. But in that method, the heating temperature of the hostmaterial has to be increased to above the necessary level, therebycreating a risk of structurally modifying, such as decomposition, of thehost materials.

Accordingly, there still remains a need for a vacuum vapor depositionapparatus or method that makes it possible, when two different vapordeposition materials are simultaneously vapor deposited on to a work,such as a substrate, to form a film of a guest material on the worksurface with high accuracy and with more uniform distribution, even whenthe ratio of one vapor deposition material serving as the guest materialto the other vapor deposition material serving as a host material isextremely small, for example, 1/1000 or less. The present inventionaddresses this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus andmethod for vapor depositing first and second vapor deposition materialson a work surface, a vacuum vapor deposition method, and a vapordeposited article obtained therewith.

One aspect of the present invention is a vacuum vapor depositionapparatus including a vacuum chamber, first and second vapor depositionsources disposable within the vacuum chamber, a work holding deviceconfigured to fixedly hold a work inside the vacuum chamber, the workhaving a surface onto which first and second vapor deposition materialssupplied from the first and second vapor deposition sources aredepositable. The apparatus further includes a shielding memberpositioned between the first vapor deposition source and the work heldby the work holding device and configured to allow a vapor depositionamount of the first vapor deposition material deposited on the worksurface to be less than a vapor deposition amount of the second vapordeposition material deposited on the work surface. A shielding memberdrive mechanism rotates the shielding member about a first axis whilemoving the shielding member with respect to a second axis that is spacedfrom the first axis. At least one drive source drives the shieldingmember via the shielding member drive mechanism.

The shielding member has a plurality of openings for passing the firstvapor deposition material therethrough. The sum total of a surface areaof the openings with respect to a surface area of the shielding membercan be within a range of from 1% to 50%. The shielding member can be adisk, with the first axis extending perpendicular to a major surface ofthe shielding member and through the center thereof, and with the secondaxis parallel to the first axis. The movement of the shielding memberwith respect to the second axis is a rotation of the shielding memberabout the second axis while the shield member is rotating about thefirst axis.

The ratio of the vapor deposition amount of the first vapor depositionmaterial deposited on the work surface to the vapor deposition amount ofthe second vapor deposition material deposited on the work surface canbe 1/1000 or less.

Another aspect of the present invention is a vacuum vapor depositionmethod of depositing the first and second vapor deposition materials,supplied from the first and second vapor deposition sources disposedwithin the vacuum chamber, on the surface of the work fixedly heldinside the vacuum chamber. The method includes disposing the shieldingmember, which shields part of the first vapor deposition materialsupplied from the first vapor deposition source, between the first vapordeposition source and the work, and moving the shielding member about atleast two spaced axes while depositing the first and second depositionmaterials on the work surface.

The moving step includes moving the shielding member about a plane thatincludes a major surface of the shielding member. The moving stepincludes rotating the shielding member about a first axis whilerevolving the shielding member about a second axis that is spaced fromand parallel with the first axis. The rotation speed of the shieldingmember about the first axis can be within a range of from 1 rpm to 100rpm. The rotation speed of the shielding member about the second axiscan be within a range of from 1 rpm to 100 rpm.

The vapor deposition rate of the first vapor deposition material on thework surface can be within a range of from 0.0001 Å per second to 0.1 Åper second. The ratio of the vapor deposition amount of the first vapordeposition material deposited on the work surface to the vapordeposition amount of the second vapor deposition material deposited onthe work surface can be 1/1000 or less.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the first embodiment ofthe vacuum vapor deposition apparatus in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the shielding member drivemechanism in the vacuum vapor deposition apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will be described below in further detail withreference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, based on an embodiment the film isdeposited on a substrate of an organic EL (electroluminescence)material.

Referring to FIG. 1 a vacuum vapor deposition apparatus 10 of theillustrated embodiment has a container 12 having a vacuum chamber 11inside thereof, and a vacuum pump (not shown in the figure) connected tothe container 12 so as to communicate with the inside of the vacuumchamber 11, and serves to maintain a predetermined degree of vacuuminside the vacuum chamber 11. A substrate 13 serving as a work can beintroduced into the container 12 and removed therefrom. A door (notshown in the figure) that can be opened and closed for moving thesubstrate 13, namely the work, in or out of the container, and forsupplying, to the first and second vapor deposition sources, the belowdescribed first and second vapor deposition materials, namely a guestmaterial 14 and a host material 15, is provided in the container. Theinside of the vacuum chamber 11 can be accessed via the door.

First and second vapor deposition sources 16, 17 having a cup-like shapeare disposed at a predetermined distance from each other inside thecontainer 12, namely in the lower portion of the vacuum chamber 11. Theguest material 14 and the host material 15 that will be vapor depositedon the surface of substrate 13 are accommodated in these first andsecond vapor deposition sources 16, 17, respectively. A heatingapparatus (not shown in the figure) each can be incorporated into thesefirst and second vapor deposition sources 16, 17, and the guest material14 and the host material 15 can be independently heated with the heatingapparatuses to a temperature at which the materials can be vaporized.

Examples of the guest material 14 and the host material 15 in thepresent embodiment include organic materials, such as organic ELmaterials or materials for organic solar cells, and metals, such aslithium, cesium, lithium fluoride, and alloys containing at least onethereof. Examples of the aforementioned organic EL materials includetris(8-hydroxyquinolinate) aluminum complex (Alq3),N,N′-bis(3-methylphenyl)-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (TPD),4,4′-bis[N-(1-naphtyl)-N-phenyl-amino]biphenyl (α-NPD), quinacridone,rubrene, oxadiazole, bathocuproin, and bathophenanthroline. Examples ofmaterials for organic solar cells include perylene derivatives,phthalocyanine derivatives, and quinacridone derivatives. The work,namely the substrate 13, usable in the present embodiment is notparticularly limited and can include materials such as glass, resins,and metals.

A shielding member 18 for reducing the deposition amount of the guestmaterial 14 on the surface of the substrate 13 with respect to thedeposition amount of the host material 15 is disposed together with thedrive mechanism 19 thereof directly above the first vapor depositionsource 16. The shielding member 18 in the present embodiment can have adisk-like shape, and a plurality of openings 20 for passing the guestmaterial 14 therethrough can be arranged in a lattice-like configurationwith a predetermined spacing therebetween in the shielding member. Thethickness of the shielding member 18, the diameter of openings 20, andthe spacing between the openings can be changed according to the ratioof the vapor deposition amount of the guest material 14 to the vapordeposition amount of the host material 15 that will be vapor depositedon the surface of substrate 13. Using a random arrangement of openings20 is also effective. Further, the shape of openings 20 is not limitedto the round shape and the openings can have any shape, provided thatthey form a pass-through region configured to pass the guest material 14therethrough. Moreover, the thickness of the shielding member is notparticularly limited, as long as the vapor deposition material canpasses therethrough.

The sum total of the surface area of openings 20 to the surface area ofthe shielding member 18, i.e., the opening ratio, can be set within arange of from 1% to 50%. The thickness of the film that adheres to thesubstrate can easily become uneven when the sum total of the surfacearea of the openings with respect to the surface area of the shieldingmember is less than 1%. Further, where the sum total of the surface areaof the openings related to the surface area of the shielding member ismore than 50%, the shielding effect of the vapor deposition materialsbecomes degraded.

The shielding member drive mechanism 19 in the present embodiment canhave a base plate 22 having a round through-hole 21 formed therein, adrive gear 23 rotatably attached to the base plate 22 adjacently to theround through-hole, and a driven gear 24 accommodated so that it can berotated with respect to the base plate 22 in a state of engagement withthe drive gear 23. The drive gear 23 is connected to a drive motor 25,and the drive gear 23 can be driven at a desired rotation speed. Aneccentrically positioned hole 26 into which the shielding member 18 isrotatably mated can be positioned inside the driven gear 24. The centerO₂ (e.g., second axis) of the eccentric hole 26 is offset with respectto the rotation center O₁ (e.g. first axis) of the driven gear 24. Inthis case, the offset amount, namely the eccentricity of the center O₂of the eccentric hole 26 is preferably set such that the relationshipthereof with the arrangement spacing of openings 20 is represented by arandom or irrational number.

A flange portion 27 protruding radially inwardly on the inner side isformed at the lower end portion of the hole 21 of the base plate 22, andan inner gear portion 28 having teeth of the same shape as those of thedriven gear 24 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the hole 21between the flange portion 27 and the driven gear 24. A tubular orannular portion 29, which can be rotatably fitted into the eccentrichole 26 of the driven gear 24, is formed in the shielding member 18, anannular locking plate 31 is mounted via a plurality of screws 30 on thedistal end surface of the tubular portion 29. The shielding member 18 isthereby prevented from being pulled off (in the axial direction) fromthe eccentric hole 26 of the driven gear 24.

Further, an outer gear portion 32, which is engaged with part of theinner gear portion 28 formed at the base plate 22 is formed at the outerperipheral surface of the shielding member 18. Because of this outergear portion, the shielding member 18 can perform, in accordance withthe rotation of the driven gear 24, a complex movement of revolving withrespect to the inner gear portion 28, while sliding along the flangeportion 27. In other words, when the drive gear 23 is rotated, theshielding member 18 rotates about the central axis O₂, while alsorotating or orbiting about the central axis O₁ of the driven gear 24,which is parallel to the central axis O₂ of the shielding member 18,along the surface of the flange portion 27. In this case, the effectivediameter of the outer gear portion 32 of the shielding member 18 can beset with respect to the effective diameter of the driven gear 24 so asto avoid too large a difference between the rotation speed of theshielding member 18 and the rotation speed of the driven gear 24(revolution/orbiting speed of the shielding member 18 about the centralaxis O₁).

The settings can be such that the rotation/orbiting speeds of theshielding member 18 about the two axes O₁, O₂ is confined to a range offrom 1 rpm to 100 rpm. Where the rotation/orbiting speeds of theshielding member about the first and second axes is less than 1 rpm, thethickness of the film adhering to the substrates easily becomes uneven.Further, where the rotation/orbiting speeds of the shielding memberabout the first and second axes exceeds 100 rpm, turbulence occurs inthe vapor flow of the vapor deposition substance so that the vapordeposition substance does not fully reach the substrate.

In the present embodiment, the second axis O₁ is set parallel to theaxis O₂ of the rotation center of the shielding member 18 having adisk-like shape, and the shielding member 18 is caused to revolve ororbit about the second axis O₁. But the second axis can be set in thedirection coinciding with that of the first axis O₂ so that theshielding member 18 reciprocates along the second axis. In this case,the shielding member 18 performs a complex movement including a rotationmovement about the first axis and a linear reciprocating movement alongthe direction parallel to the second axis. The rotation movement andrevolution movement also can be independently controlled with two drivemotors.

A work holding device 33 is configured to fixedly hold the substrate 13,onto which the guest material 14 and host material 15 supplied from thefirst and second vapor deposition sources 16, 17 are to be deposited,and is disposed in the upper portion or area of the vacuum chamber 11.The work holding device 33 can have any configuration, provided that itproduces no adverse effect on the substrate 13 during vapor depositionoperation and can hold the substrate 13 with good stability.

In the present embodiment, because it is not necessary to move thesubstrate 13 during vapor deposition operation as in the Reference 1,the work holding device 33 can have a simple structure, minimizing anyadverse effect produced by impurities generated from the drive mechanismneeded for driving the substrate 13. In this case, the guest material 14supplied from the first vapor deposition source 16 reaches the surfaceof the substrate 13 via the shielding member 18, while the host material15 supplied from the second vapor deposition source 17 directly reachesthe surface of the substrate 13. Therefore, the host material 15 isdeposited on the surface of substrate 13 in an amount larger than thatof the guest material 14. It is desirable for the positions of the firstand second vapor deposition sources 16, 17, shielding member 18, andwork holding device 33 to be adequately set so that the guest material14 and host material 15 can be uniformly distributed over the surface ofthe substrate 13.

A film thickness sensor 34 for the guest material, serving to evaluatethe ratio of guest material 14 supplied from the first vapor depositionsource 16 (the film thickness of the guest material 14 deposited on thesubstrate 13 via the openings 20 of the shielding member 18), isdisposed in the vicinity of the shielding member drive mechanism 19between the first vapor deposition source 16 and the shielding memberdrive mechanism 19. Further, a film thickness sensor 35 for the hostmaterial serving to evaluate the mass of host material 15 supplied fromthe second vapor deposition source 17 (the film thickness of hostmaterial 15 deposited on the substrate 13) is disposed in the vicinityof the work holding device 33 between the second vapor deposition source17 and the work holding device 33. Detection signals from these filmthickness sensors 34, 35, which can use quartz oscillators or the like,are output to a computation and processing device, such as a CPU orcontroller (not shown in the figure). The operation of heatingapparatuses of the first and second vapor deposition sources 16, 17 orthe rotation speed of the drive gear 23 can be feedback controlled sothat vapor deposition can be controlled at the desired rate.

Where the vapor deposition rate of the first vapor deposition materialon the work surface is less than 0.0001 Å per second, the dope amount isinsufficient, the light emission efficiency of the first vapordeposition material is low, and the desired light emission cannot beobtained. Conversely, where the vapor deposition rate of the first vapordeposition material on the work surface is more than 0.1 Å per second,light quenching occurs, thereby decreasing the light emissionefficiency. Therefore, it is preferred that the vapor deposition rate ofthe first vapor deposition material on the work surface be within arange of from 0.0001 Å per second to 0.1 Å per second. The vapordeposition rate of from 0.0005 Å per second to 0.1 Å per second is evenmore preferable.

To confirm the effect of the present invention, an organic EL materialwas deposited on the surface of the substrate 13 using theabove-described vacuum vapor deposition apparatus 10, with theconditions described below in Examples 1, 2, and the dope amount D (%)of the guest material 14 relative to the host material 15 and the spreadΔ (%) of film thickness distribution of the guest material 14 werecalculated. For comparison, in Comparison Example 1, the same organic ELmaterial was deposited without revolving or orbiting the shieldingmember 18 about the second axis O₁, and the dope amount D (%) of theguest material 14 relative to the host material 15 and the spread Δ (%)of film thickness distribution of the guest material 14 were calculatedin the same manner. In Comparison Example 2, the same organic ELmaterial was deposited without using the shielding member 18, and thedope amount D (%) and spread Δ (%) were calculated.

The dope amount D of the guest material 14 with respect to the hostmaterial 15 is represented by D^(g)=(t_(g)/t_(h))×100, where t_(g)represents a film thickness of the guest material 14 evaluated based ondata from the film thickness sensor 34 and t_(h) represents a filmthickness of the host material 15 evaluated based on data from the filmthickness sensor 35. Further, the spread Δ of film thicknessdistribution of the guest material 14 in the embodiment was determinedby the equation Δ={(D_(max)−D_(min))/D_(max)}^(max)×(1/2) by samplingportions in any 16 locations on the surface of the substrate 13 andextracting the location with the maximum dope amount D_(max) and thelocation with the minimum dope amount D_(min) from the 16 locations onthe surface of the substrate 13 using liquid chromatography.

In Example 1, a stainless steel sheet with an opening ratio (ratio ofthe sum total of surface area of openings 20 to the surface area ofshielding member 18) of 10% was used as the shielding member 18.Further, rubrene (5,6,11,12-tetraphenyl naphthacene) was used as theguest material 14, and tris(8-hydroxyquinolate)aluminum complex (Alq3)was used as the host material 15. A square glass sheet with a 50 mm sideand a thickness of 0.7 mm was used as the substrate 13.

Each heating apparatus used was a resistance heating system for thefirst and second vapor deposition sources 16, 17. The guest material 14and host material 15 were heated to a temperature of 300° C. The vapordeposition rate of the guest material 14 was set, based on the data fromthe film thickness sensor 34, to 0.1 Å/sec and the vapor deposition rateof the host material 15 was set, based on the data from the filmthickness sensor 35, to 0.1 Å/sec, while maintaining the degree ofvacuum within the vacuum chamber 11 at 10⁻⁵ Pa. The rotation speed ofthe shielding member 18 was set to 10 rpm, while the orbiting revolutionspeed thereof was set to 7 rpm. A vapor deposited layer in which thehost material 15 was doped with 0.1% guest material 14 was obtained. InExample 1, the direct and reverse rotation operations of revolutionmovement were repeated by reversing the operation of the drive motor 25each time the outer gear portion 32 of the shielding member 18 made oneturn (i.e., after each turn of the shielding member about its centeraxis O₂).

In Example 2, a stainless steel sheet with an opening ratio of 5% wasused as the shielding member 18. Further, rubrene (5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene) was used as the guest material 14, andtris(8-hydroxyquinolate)aluminum complex (Alq3) was used as the hostmaterial 15. The same square glass sheet used in Example 1 was used asthe substrate 13.

The same heating apparatuses used in Example 1 were used to heat thefirst and second vapor deposition sources 16, 17. Again, the guestmaterial 14 and host material 15 were heated to a temperature of 300° C.Here, the rotation speed of the shielding member 18 was set to 20 rpmand the revolution or orbiting speed thereof was set to 10 rpm. Thevapor deposition rate of the guest material 14 was set, based on thedata from the film thickness sensor 34, to 0.1 Å/sec and the vapordeposition rate of the host material 15 was set, based on the data fromthe film thickness sensor 35, to 0.1 Å/sec, while maintaining the degreeof vacuum within the vacuum chamber 11 at 10 ⁻⁵ Pa. As a result, a vapordeposited layer in which the host material 15 was doped with 0.05% guestmaterial 14 was obtained. The ratio of the rotation speed and revolutionspeed was set by changing the ratio of the pitch circle diameter of theshielding member 18 and driven gear 24, and the revolution operation wasperformed in the same manner as in Example 1.

In Comparative Example 1, a stainless steel sheet with the opening ratioof 10% was used as the shielding member 18. Further, rubrene(5,6,11,12-tetraphenyl naphthacene) was used as the guest material 14,and tris(8-hydroxyquinolate)aluminum complex (Alq3) was used as the hostmaterial 15. The same square glass sheet used in Example 1 was used asthe substrate 13.

The same heating apparatuses used in Example 1 were used to heat theguest material 14 and host material 15 to a temperature of 300° C. Thevapor deposition rate of the guest material 14 was set, based on thedata from the film thickness sensor 34, to 0.1 Å/sec and the vapordeposition rate of the host material 15 was set, based on the data fromthe film thickness sensor 35, to 1 Å/sec, while maintaining the degreeof vacuum within the vacuum chamber 11 at 10⁻⁵ Pa. The shielding member18 was rotated about its center axis O₂ by operating the drive motor 25with the outer gear portion 32 of the shielding member 18 engaging thedrive gear 23. The rotation speed of the shielding member 18 was set to10 rpm, and a vapor deposited layer in which the host material 15 wasdoped with 0.1% guest material 14 was obtained.

In Comparative Example 2, a vapor deposition film was formed on the samesquare glass plate under the same conditions as in Example 1, exceptthat no shielding member 18 was used, and the vapor deposition rate ofthe guest material 14 was set, based on the data from the film thicknesssensor 34, to 0.01 Å/sec.

The test results obtained from the above examples are shown in theTable.

THE TABLE Dope amount of guest material (%) Film thickness 1st 2nd 3rd4th 5th 6th Standard unevenness of time time time time time timedeviation guest material Example 1 0.113 0.101 0.118 0.115 0.103 0.0910.01 ±3% Example 2 0.049 0.051 0.052 0.049 0.048 0.05 0.013 ±3%Comparative 0.101 0.12 0.113 0.093 0.099 0.116 0.011 ±5% Example 1Comparative 0.078 0.114 0.146 0.12 0.088 0.135 0.026 ±5% Example 2

As shown in the Table, it was confirmed that by forming a film accordingto the present technique, it is possible to form a vapor deposited layerwith a thickness that is more stable and a spread in a dope amount ofthe guest material 14 that is less than those in the case where theconventional technology is used. It was also confirmed that by impartingcomplex motion to the shielding member 18, it is also possible todecrease the spread in the thickness of the guest material 14.

Because the shielding member is introduced between the first vapordeposition source and the work held by the work holder, the amount ofthe first vapor deposition material that adhered to the work surface canbe greatly reduced with respect to that of the second vapor depositionmaterial. Further, because the shielding member is rotated about thefirst and second axes to generate a complex motion, the adhesiondistribution of the first vapor deposition material to the work surfaceis made more even. Therefore, the first vapor deposition material can beuniformly distributed over the work surface even when the vapordeposition amount of the first vapor deposition material is set muchlower than the vapor deposition amount of the second vapor depositionmaterial. Moreover, because, the drive mechanism and drive source can besimplified by comparison with those of the vacuum vapor depositionapparatus disclosed in the Reference, impurities generated during vapordeposition can be controlled and a high-quality vapor deposited film canbe formed on the work surface.

Where the sum total of the surface area of the openings related to thesurface area of the shielding member is within a range of from 1% to50%, the ratio of the first vapor deposition material that adheres tothe work surface can be adjusted with respect to the second vapordeposition material, and the vapor deposition amount of the first vapordeposition material on the work surface can be significantly less thanthat of the second vapor deposition material.

The shielding member drive mechanism can have a simpler structure wherethe shielding member is a disk, the first axis passes perpendicular tothe surface of the shielding member through the center thereof, thesecond axis is parallel to the first axis, and the movement of theshielding member with respect to the second axis is the rotation of theshielding member about the second axis.

Where the movement of the shielding member is performed within a planeincluding the surface of the shielding member, hardly any turbulenceoccurs in the vapor flow of the first vapor deposition material withinthe vacuum chamber and the first vapor deposition material can be moreuniformly distributed over the work surface. In particular, themechanism for driving the shielding member can have a simple structurewhen the movement of the shielding member involves rotation about afirst axis and revolution about a second axis parallel to the firstaxis. Further, when the rotation speed of the shielding member about thefirst axis, or the rotation speed of the shielding member about thesecond axis is set within a range of from 1 rpm to 100 rpm, hardly anyturbulence occurs in the vapor flow of the first vapor depositionmaterial within the vacuum chamber and the first vapor depositionmaterial can be more uniformly distributed over the work surface.

Where the vapor deposition rate of the first vapor deposition materialon the work surface is set within a range of from 0.001 Å per second to0.005 Å per second, the vapor deposition amount of the first vapordeposition material on the work surface can be significantly less thanthat of the second vapor deposition material.

With the vapor deposited article in accordance with the presentinvention, a high-quality vapor deposited article with uniformdistribution of the first vapor deposition material can be obtained evenwhen the ratio of the vapor deposition amount of the first vapordeposition material to the vapor deposition amount of the second vapordeposition material is 1/2000 or more.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to exemplary embodiments and examples, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and otherchanges in form and details can be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention. All modifications andequivalents attainable by one versed in the art from the presentdisclosure within the scope and spirit of the present invention are tobe included as further embodiments of the present invention. The scopeof the present invention accordingly is to be defined as set forth inthe appended claims.

This application is based on and claims priority to Japanese PatentApplications 2007-302265 filed on 21 Nov. 2007. The disclosure of thepriority application in its entirety, including the drawings, claims,and the specification thereof, is incorporated herein by reference.

1. A vacuum vapor deposition apparatus comprising: a vacuum chamber;first and second vapor deposition sources disposable within the vacuumchamber; a work holding device configured to fixedly hold a work insidethe vacuum chamber, the work having a surface onto which first andsecond vapor deposition materials supplied from the first and secondvapor deposition sources are depositable; a shielding member positionedbetween the first vapor deposition source and the work held by the workholding device and configured to allow a vapor deposition amount of thefirst vapor deposition material deposited on the work surface to be lessthan a vapor deposition amount of the second vapor deposition materialdeposited on the work surface; a shielding member drive mechanism thatrotates the shielding member about a first axis while moving theshielding member with respect to a second axis that is spaced from thefirst axis; and at least one drive source that drives the shieldingmember via the shielding member drive mechanism.
 2. The vacuum vapordeposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shielding memberhas a plurality of openings for passing the first vapor depositionmaterial therethrough.
 3. The vacuum vapor deposition apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein a sum total of a surface area of theopenings with respect to a surface area of the shielding member iswithin a range of from 1% to 50%.
 4. The vacuum vapor depositionapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shielding member is a disk,the first axis extends perpendicular to a major surface of the shieldingmember and through the center thereof, the second axis is parallel tothe first axis, and the movement of the shielding member with respect tothe second axis is a rotation of the shielding member about the secondaxis while the shield member is rotating about the first axis.
 5. Thevacuum vapor deposition apparatus according to claim 2, wherein theshielding member is a disk, the first axis extends perpendicular to amajor surface of the shielding member and through the center thereof,the second axis is parallel to the first axis, and the movement of theshielding member with respect to the second axis is a rotation of theshielding member about the second axis while the shield member isrotating about the first axis.
 6. The vacuum vapor deposition apparatusaccording to claim 3, wherein the shielding member is a disk, the firstaxis extends perpendicular to a major surface of the shielding memberand through the center thereof, the second axis is parallel to the firstaxis, and the movement of the shielding member with respect to thesecond axis is a rotation of the shielding member about the second axiswhile the shield member is rotating about the first axis.
 7. The vacuumvapor deposition apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of thevapor deposition amount of the first vapor deposition material depositedon the work surface to the vapor deposition amount of the second vapordeposition material deposited on the work surface is 1/1000 or less. 8.A vacuum vapor deposition method of depositing first and second vapordeposition materials, supplied from first and second vapor depositionsources disposed within a vacuum chamber, on a surface of a work fixedlyheld inside the vacuum chamber, the method comprising the steps of:disposing a shielding member, which shields part of the first vapordeposition material supplied from the first vapor deposition source,between the first vapor deposition source and the work; and moving theshielding member about at least two spaced axes while depositing thefirst and second deposition materials on the work surface.
 9. The vacuumvapor deposition method according to claim 8, wherein the moving stepmoves the shielding member about a plane that includes a major surfaceof the shielding member.
 10. The vacuum vapor deposition methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the moving step includes rotating theshielding member about a first axis while revolving the shielding memberabout a second axis that is spaced from and parallel with the firstaxis.
 11. The vacuum vapor deposition method according to claim 10,wherein a rotation speed of the shielding member about the first axis iswithin a range of from 1 rpm to 100 rpm.
 12. The vacuum vapor depositionmethod according to claim 10, wherein a rotation speed of the shieldingmember about the second axis is within a range of from 1 rpm to 100 rpm.13. The vacuum vapor deposition method according to claim 11, wherein arotation speed of the shielding member about the second axis is within arange of from 1 rpm to 100 rpm.
 14. The vacuum vapor deposition methodaccording to claims 8, wherein the vapor deposition rate of the firstvapor deposition material on the work surface is within a range of from0.0001 Å per second to 0.1 Å per second.
 15. The vacuum vapor depositionmethod according to claims 9, wherein the vapor deposition rate of thefirst vapor deposition material on the work surface is within a range offrom 0.0001 Å per second to 0.1 Å per second.
 16. The vacuum vapordeposition method according to claims 10, wherein the vapor depositionrate of the first vapor deposition material on the work surface iswithin a range of from 0.0001 Å per second to 0.1 Å per second.
 17. Thevacuum vapor deposition method according to claims 11, wherein the vapordeposition rate of the first vapor deposition material on the worksurface is within a range of from 0.0001 Å per second to 0.1 Å persecond.
 18. The vacuum vapor deposition method according to claims 12,wherein the vapor deposition rate of the first vapor deposition materialon the work surface is within a range of from 0.0001 Å per second to 0.1Å per second.
 19. The vacuum vapor deposition method according to claims13, wherein the vapor deposition rate of the first vapor depositionmaterial on the work surface is within a range of from 0.0001 Å persecond to 0.1 Å per second.
 20. The vacuum vapor deposition methodaccording to claim 8, wherein a ratio of the vapor deposition amount ofthe first vapor deposition material deposited on the work surface to thevapor deposition amount of the second vapor deposition materialdeposited on the work surface is 1/1000 or less.